Root crops, largely sweet potato and taro, are a vital commodity in nations of the Pacific region. While more than 90% of crop produced is usually eaten as a subsistence item, bartered with neighbours or traded locally, there is nevertheless a significant and growing international trade in root crops. For example, in Samoa in 1988 the export of taro was valued at $2.3m and represented about 35% of agricultural export income. In some nations, root crops also have potential for use as an energy source in feeds for intensively managed livestock.

A wide variety of production systems are used for root crops in the region, but most are low-input systems, resulting in very low yields in the case of sweet potato and taro, typically less than 10% of the crop yield potential. Shifting systems such as slash-and-burn are common because of the rapid exhaustion of the chemical fertility of island soils under cropping. These systems make inefficient use of manpower resources because excessive energy is spent clearing new land and walking long distances to food gardens.